Bibek Debroy lashes out at those criticising lack of reforms by government

By PTI |
Published: 09th March 2018 01:22 AM |

Last Updated: 09th March 2018 01:22 AM | A+A A- |

0

Share Via Email

Bibek Debroy | EPS

MUMBAI: Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman Bibek Debroy today said those criticising lack of big reforms are looking at things with a "prism", while the government's priorities lie in inclusive development.

Speaking in the financial capital, he said the prism with which a villager looks at reforms would be different.

"All of us have our own prisms with which we define and evaluate reforms. Your prism may not necessarily be the same as the prism of a villager in a state," he said, speaking at the conference organised by Outlook Money.

"Big bang expectations need to be qualified that there is a prism with which we look at reforms and those are not necessarily the priorities of either the government or the country as a whole," he added.

Debroy acknowledged that a lot of people ask about where are the big bang reforms and also underlined the government's inclusive development commitment.

Stating that investment revival is one of the most important factors that will be influencing the GDP growth, he said an improvement in capital expenditures requires "significant changes" in the way the state-run banks function and also deal with the problem of dud assets.

"It requires an overhaul of non-performing assets (NPAs) and even of assets that have not become NPAs, pre-empting them, and ensuring that they don't actually become NPAs," he said.

Debroy, however, suggested that one should wait for details of the state-run bank recapitalisation and reform plan for this aspect.

The key economic policy making official said he expects a surge in investments in the next two quarters.

The EACPM chairman said he expects growth to accelerate to close to 7.5 per cent in financial year 2018-19, which is the higher band of government expectation of 7-7.5 per cent, and go up further to 8 per cent in the financial year after that.

He, however, said that an improvement to 9 per cent is not possible unless we see a surge in net exports, adding that this factor had aided GDP growth to come at 9 per cent in the past.

Consumption, which is showing an overall surge, and public expenditure which has limits because of the fiscal math, are the other two factors which will be influencing growth, according to Debroy.